Analysis of Gamma-Band Auditory Responses in Schizophrenia

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Abstract

Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental illness that affects 1% of the general population. One characteristic symptom is auditory hallucinations, which is experienced by almost all patients sometime in their lifetime. To investigate differences in auditory response in general, 50 schizophrenic patients and 50 age and sex-matched healthy controls were presented with auditory click trains at 40 Hz. Responses are recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). Magnitude and phase of responses at 40 Hz are computed using Gabor filters.
Supporting previous literature, a significant difference in inter-trial phase coherence (ITC) and overall power is found between patients and controls, in particular near stimulus onset. Additionally, this study also investigated inter-subject phase coherence (ISC). This study finds that ISC is in fact higher for patients, in particular near stimulus onset. One possible explanation is that while healthy controls develop a preferred phase for perception, schizophrenic patients exhibit phase that is primarily stimulus-driven.